plainoldchair
@plainoldchair.bsky.social
Reposted by plainoldchair
Most discussions about “misinformation” treat the problem as if people simply don’t have good enough critical-thinking skills. It sounds intuitive, but it’s not entirely accurate. The problem isn’t just individual ignorance, it’s the structure of the information environment people are placed into.
Finland has emerged as a global leader in countering “fake news”. Here's how they've done it
Teaching when to trust
As fake news accelerates, we need to teach our children how to think critically. Finnish schools are leading the charge
newhumanist.org.uk
December 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Most discussions about “misinformation” treat the problem as if people simply don’t have good enough critical-thinking skills. It sounds intuitive, but it’s not entirely accurate. The problem isn’t just individual ignorance, it’s the structure of the information environment people are placed into.
Reposted by plainoldchair
“the show took the position that right wing speech can only be free if no one from the left ever criticizes it.”
Resistance libs welcomed South Park into the anti-Trump fold with open arms. Our founder Evan Urquhart was a bit less joyous to see the anti-woke edgelords of South Park recognize, at last, the dreadful pandora's box that widespread anti-wokeness opened up.
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
South Park Mourns the Death of Woke — Assigned
An adult cartoon that reveled in the anti-woke backlash reckons with its impact.
www.assignedmedia.org
December 6, 2025 at 7:46 PM
“the show took the position that right wing speech can only be free if no one from the left ever criticizes it.”
Reposted by plainoldchair
Playing Blippo + affirms my take that somehow FMV games came back over the past decade and are really good now
December 6, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Playing Blippo + affirms my take that somehow FMV games came back over the past decade and are really good now
Reposted by plainoldchair
Meet Mother Hotdog — the mother of ALL hotdogs 🌭
December 6, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Meet Mother Hotdog — the mother of ALL hotdogs 🌭
Watching stuff made in a place like LA makes me realize just how less Catholic most of the country is compared to where I grew up. Apparently people think that Catholics still don't eat meat on Fridays? Is that still a thing in the US or Europe, outside of Lent? Does that vary?
December 6, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Watching stuff made in a place like LA makes me realize just how less Catholic most of the country is compared to where I grew up. Apparently people think that Catholics still don't eat meat on Fridays? Is that still a thing in the US or Europe, outside of Lent? Does that vary?
Absolutely bizarre. This carries about the same weight as my local diner offering someone a "peace prize". It means nothing, to no one, but because it's an organization with money, somehow it matters.
Also, The Simpsons did it first.
Also, The Simpsons did it first.
December 6, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Absolutely bizarre. This carries about the same weight as my local diner offering someone a "peace prize". It means nothing, to no one, but because it's an organization with money, somehow it matters.
Also, The Simpsons did it first.
Also, The Simpsons did it first.
Reposted by plainoldchair
This is how my local paper in the swing state of Nevada covered it: Huge picture, AP story with nary a hint that this was weird or corrupt.
As low as Trump’s approval ratings are, they’d be much lower if he didn’t have the help of large swaths of the media
As low as Trump’s approval ratings are, they’d be much lower if he didn’t have the help of large swaths of the media
December 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
This is how my local paper in the swing state of Nevada covered it: Huge picture, AP story with nary a hint that this was weird or corrupt.
As low as Trump’s approval ratings are, they’d be much lower if he didn’t have the help of large swaths of the media
As low as Trump’s approval ratings are, they’d be much lower if he didn’t have the help of large swaths of the media
Reposted by plainoldchair
Ban this garbage product. If it kills cats, it’ll kill kids.
December 6, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Ban this garbage product. If it kills cats, it’ll kill kids.
Reposted by plainoldchair
no one has ever gotten the spirit of our country as right as paul verhoeven making robocop
"Soon, CNN will run live odds on world events where its viewers can gamble on them in real time on their smartphones."
CNN Partners With a Gambling App That Lets You Wager on Starvation in Gaza
The app company’s two biggest investors are also heavily invested in the Israeli military.
truthout.org
December 5, 2025 at 11:12 PM
no one has ever gotten the spirit of our country as right as paul verhoeven making robocop
Reposted by plainoldchair
In terms of what’s understood to be socially acceptable behavior, normalizing the filming/taking pictures of people in public who are minding their own business (and putting it online) is one of the worst developments of the past 15 years.
Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man's Meta Smart Glasses on Subway
A New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. She was later hailed as a hero.
futurism.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:52 PM
In terms of what’s understood to be socially acceptable behavior, normalizing the filming/taking pictures of people in public who are minding their own business (and putting it online) is one of the worst developments of the past 15 years.
Reposted by plainoldchair
BOOKMARKED!!
November 18, 2025 at 12:01 AM
BOOKMARKED!!
Reposted by plainoldchair
The fact that Kirby 64 and Disco Elysium are considered works in the same medium is weirder to me than the fact that My Neighbor Totoro and Apocalypse Now are both movies.
August 4, 2025 at 5:59 PM
The fact that Kirby 64 and Disco Elysium are considered works in the same medium is weirder to me than the fact that My Neighbor Totoro and Apocalypse Now are both movies.
Reposted by plainoldchair
I still think this is one of the biggest discourse generators: games are like 5+ different mediums we use the same word for.
Imagine if we didn't have separate terms for novels, poetry, plays, scripted film/TV, and they were instead all called wordseq (sequential word-based media), and we had people arguing that films weren't actually good wordseq because they didn't focus exclusively on words.
Disco Elysium is a great work of art that is also a relatively weak game, and does not make a strong case that games are art because it doesn't do what the best games do, which is allow meaning to emerge from the intersection of game mechanics and the player's decisions.
December 5, 2025 at 8:22 PM
I still think this is one of the biggest discourse generators: games are like 5+ different mediums we use the same word for.
Reposted by plainoldchair
December 5, 2025 at 9:11 PM
I need this now.
Dr. Nut (circa 1936-circa 1978): An almond/amaretto-flavored soda from the New Orleans-based World Bottling Co. and Wright Root Beer, it developed a devoted and intense cult following.
December 5, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I need this now.
Reposted by plainoldchair
I’ve met a few people who claimed to me they were faking disabilities. In every case, it later turned out either that they were lying about “faking” bc they thought it was better to be seen as a bit of a schemer than as someone with (eg) schizophrenia, or that they were really disabled but felt that
You can’t tell if someone is disabled just by looking at them.
There’s no such thing as the “genuinely disabled”.
You are not entitled to a person’s entire medical history just so you can decide whether to believe them or not.
People are not faking disability, most are trying to fake being well.
There’s no such thing as the “genuinely disabled”.
You are not entitled to a person’s entire medical history just so you can decide whether to believe them or not.
People are not faking disability, most are trying to fake being well.
December 4, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I’ve met a few people who claimed to me they were faking disabilities. In every case, it later turned out either that they were lying about “faking” bc they thought it was better to be seen as a bit of a schemer than as someone with (eg) schizophrenia, or that they were really disabled but felt that
Reposted by plainoldchair
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted by plainoldchair
Holy shit.
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
December 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Holy shit.
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reposted by plainoldchair
LinkedIn Email: Based on your skills of “Editor” and “Project Management” you would be a good fit for the role of “Medical Test Subject at the Cerberus Corporation”
July 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM
LinkedIn Email: Based on your skills of “Editor” and “Project Management” you would be a good fit for the role of “Medical Test Subject at the Cerberus Corporation”
Reposted by plainoldchair
Capybara is now my favourite way to query models
December 4, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Capybara is now my favourite way to query models
Reposted by plainoldchair
Case in point:
Worst-named vertebrate almost certainly goes to Macropinna microstoma.
Does it have big fins ("macropinna")?
Yep.
And a small mouth ("microstoma")?
You bet.
But you're just going to just ignore that its HEAD is TRANSPARENT, and that it can SWIVEL ITS EYES to LOOK UPWARDS THROUGH ITS OWN SKULL?!
Does it have big fins ("macropinna")?
Yep.
And a small mouth ("microstoma")?
You bet.
But you're just going to just ignore that its HEAD is TRANSPARENT, and that it can SWIVEL ITS EYES to LOOK UPWARDS THROUGH ITS OWN SKULL?!
March 17, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Case in point:
Reposted by plainoldchair
Scientific naming is great because you'll hear the latin name of an animal and be like wow that sounds so fancy and esoteric and it translates to "Goofy Tooth" or "Potato Ass"
March 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Scientific naming is great because you'll hear the latin name of an animal and be like wow that sounds so fancy and esoteric and it translates to "Goofy Tooth" or "Potato Ass"
Reposted by plainoldchair
Maybe these LLM things are ok actually
December 4, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Maybe these LLM things are ok actually
Reposted by plainoldchair
here's the solution to the "video games can't be about dark/sexual topics" problem: books! you know how books can have all kinds of horrible things in them?
we bring back that early-CRPG thing where games came with a book and the video game tells you to read stuff out of the book at certain times
we bring back that early-CRPG thing where games came with a book and the video game tells you to read stuff out of the book at certain times
December 4, 2025 at 4:50 PM
here's the solution to the "video games can't be about dark/sexual topics" problem: books! you know how books can have all kinds of horrible things in them?
we bring back that early-CRPG thing where games came with a book and the video game tells you to read stuff out of the book at certain times
we bring back that early-CRPG thing where games came with a book and the video game tells you to read stuff out of the book at certain times